Available for Windows 10 PC, the free game sports decent 3D graphics and has you facing off against a fleet of rather aggressive boats. Submarine Patrol 3D supports both touch and keyboard controls and for the most part is a fun time waster of a game. The game needs a little fine tuning, but if you like naval battles where you lurk beneath sea level, Submarine Patrol 3D is worth a try.
Submarine Patrol 3D's main menu tosses out options to jump into gameplay, visit the game's settings, view a How To Play screen and view the game's leaderboard. Settings are minimal with options to choose your language support, mute the sounds, add a custom gamer tag and choose your controls.
Just note that both control methods are active, regardless of which you choose. I was able to use both the keyboard and touchscreen of my laptop to play the game.
Gameplay is set during the Falklands War and you must patrol a series of inland waterways that snake through the South American island chain. You can choose the region and number of ships you face that include run of the mill boats, cruisers, and destroyers. All three are armed with depth charges and torpedoes. The goal of Submarine Patrol 3D is to sink all the enemy ships, so be careful not to stack the deck against yourself.
Submarine Patrol 3D is played from a point of view slightly behind your submarine. The game screen has your torpedo selection lining the right side of the display, your depth gauge to the left and fire controls resting in the bottom corners of the screen. A radar display is positioned towards the left side of the display and plots any enemy ships, your torpedo shots and any enemy torpedoes.
As you complete missions, you earn gold that can be used to unlock additional submarines and customize your torpedo inventory. Typically, a sub launches with 10-20 lightweight torpedoes. Using your gold, you can up the ante and purchase plasma and heavy torpedoes that inflict more damage and travel faster through the water. Just remember, if you run out of torpedoes your only option is to ram the enemy ships or position yourself in between ships, hoping you can dodge their torpedoes in such a way that the enemy blows themselves up.
This underwater adventure has potential but needs fine-tuning
Submarine Patrol 3D is a Windows 10 game that requires a bit of patience. While the game sports decent graphics (could use a little polishing as well) and challenging gameplay, Submarine Patrol 3D needs a little work.
The area that needs the most attention is submarine controls. Your submarine moves along at a snail's pace while the other boats zip around as if they were nimble ski boats. Even raising and lowering your depth takes a considerable amount of time. If you need to take any evasive maneuvers, you need to start them several minutes before the threat level builds. The sluggish subs also make hunting down the enemy time-consuming. I found that it was often easy to lay in wait for the enemy ships to turn the corner than it was for me to give chase.
This Windows 10 game also needs a pause button where you can abort a mission. Running out of torpedoes can be exhausting, as well as evading enemy ships or trying to set them up to blow themselves up. There needs to be a way to reset the mission or abort it all together.
Where Submarine Patrol 3D lacks in submarine performance, it makes up for things with an enemy fleet that is very aggressive. The enemy engages your submarine like an angry swarm of yellow jackets until they blow your boat to smithereens.
As is, Submarine Patrol 3D is a game with a good bit of potential. I liked the concept behind the game but the performance isn't where it needs to be. Add a little more detail to the graphics and improve submarine controls, then the game could be a decent contender. If you like submarine battles, Submarine Patrol 3D is worth a try but you'll need a little patience.
